Motorists who are fed up with crawling through heavy motorway traffic could soon be allowed to pay a toll to speed along a less congested lane.

The plan is contained in a government review of possible improvements to the M6 between Birmingham and Manchester. Lone drivers who want to dodge traffic jams would be able to pay a fee to move into a less congested lane. The lanes could also be used free of charge by cars carrying two or more people.

The transport secretary, Alistair Darling, is considering using the northern section of the M6 as a pilot. The idea is viewed as a middle way between road charging and the toll-free status quo. The prospect of revenue from tolls could help the government persuade the private sector to put up the funds for widening work.

A Whitehall source said the lanes were being studied "seriously". Mr Darling's spokesman said: "It is something we are aware of and we're interested in looking into the potential."

The lanes operate in California and Texas, where they were initially criticised for favouring the wealthy. But a recent study by California Polytechnic State University in Pomona found there was little demographic difference between drivers using them and motorists as a whole.

Mr Darling saw the so-called "hot" lanes during a visit to the US three years ago. Motoring organisations are supportive as long as the lanes are specially built rather than converted from existing carriageways.

Edmund King, executive director of the RAC Foundation, said: "If hot lanes make it easier to bring in private finance, we would support them because there is still a choice for the motorist.

"Congestion is getting so dire that we've got to do something to get extra capacity more quickly."

The concept has emerged from a consultation on whether to widen the Birmingham to Manchester motorway or to build a parallel expressway along the lines of the existing M6 Toll, which skirts the eastern edge of Birmingham. The existing 51-mile section of the M6 carries 140,000 vehicles a day and is severely congested at peak times.

Mr Darling has made it clear he favours road pricing as a general principle and that he wants to move towards a national satellite-based charging scheme under which motorists pay a fee for every journey fixed according to time, route and distance. But he says this is a decade away.

In the meantime, the government wants to use space more effectively. It has commissioned a high-occupancy lane on the M1 between Watford and Luton, which will be available only to drivers carrying passengers. But the US experience has suggested motorists are reluctant to share their cars and that such lanes tend to be under-used.

The Freight Transport Association said it would demand that lorry drivers were exempt from any such toll.

A spokesman said: "In the vast majority of cases, freight simply has no choice other than to use the roads to move goods around. Most freight vehicles are single-handed and it is not practical to expect them to carry a passenger."